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Forums - Sales Discussion - Comparison of sales of multiplat releases (PS4 vs. Xbox One vs. Switch)

Mnementh said:

I updated the OP with current numbers. Thanks to the VGC-team for fixing the problem hindering new data and get the numbers flowing again. I think you usually get too less credit for the work you do for keeping the site running.

This week was interesting, because it saw many new releases. In difference to the past, this consisted of releases head-to-head instead of late ports. So the first week data is actually more interesting. The games in question are the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Harvest Moon, Owlboy, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and Sega Genesis Classics. Aside from Street Fighter sadly the games all missing at least one platform. Sega Genesis Classics aren't coming to the Switch, the others not to the Xbox. Of the games only Street Fighter broke 100K, although the sales indicate that Harvest Moon should get there soon, and BlazBlue so far only released in Japan, the releases in the other regions should improve sales too.

This are the market shares for the games:

 

As you can see, the performance strongly differs from game to game. Street Fighter dominates on PS4, is strong on Switch and weak on Xbox. We have so far few data for fighting games among all three platforms, but this collection also thrives on nostalgia, so it is hard to conclude how the sales are influenced by these factors. BlazBlue gives some indication for fighting games, but keep in mind this so far is only japanese data and missing the Xbox. BlazBlue though shows a strong dominance for PS4 with nearly three fourths of the sales on that platform. Sega Genesis Classics can indicate nostalgia sales, but this is missing Switch. Here PS4 dominates even stronger with more than three fourths of the share.

Harvest Moon is interesting, as we have so far few games with the simulation genre among these platforms. No Xbox-release though only let's draw conclusions for PS4 and Switch. Here Switch takes the cake, with more than 70% of the share.

Owlboy once again shows the sales strength of Switch for Indies and platformers. Over 80% of the sales are going to the Switch.

The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a port of the Vita-game. As a japanese-oriented game it misses the Xbox. As many other games it shows that for publishers PS4 and Switch start to replace the Vita as the platform for japanese centric story driven games. The sales are interestingly very balanced between PS4 and Switch, nearly identical.

*********

I added a new graph to the OP. This shows how many games on each platform are selling more than 10%/20%/30... market share. It shows a bit the PS4-domincance in sales. I'll keep that updated in the future.

 

*******

I also want to show another interesting development in sales. The game BattleChasers: Nightwar (a pretty classic turn-based RPG) was released as a late port on Switch and shows there incredible sales strength. I think THQ Nordic is kinda pleased with these sales. In three weeks the Switch version already overtook the XBox One version and if the strong sales continue will not take long to catch the PS4 version.

Unless this very steep curve for the NS version decelerate soon it will have more than 50% of the sales very soon.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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40 percent of games sold on PS4 are digital, so add a nice 35-40 percent to it's software numbers to make this more accurate please.



 

mM
Mbolibombo said:
Cool charts. I honestly though Switch versions of a few games would sell lesser than what these show. Considering many of them released at a later date than the initial launch and a lot smaller user base. PS4 as expected sells the most of almost everything which is not very surprising considering how many users they have.

Of the day and day releases Switch seems to do pretty ok after all. If we consider revenue for many of these late ports, I am sure that publishers in many instances are still pretty pleased with sales for some of the late ports. Fighterz is going to be interesting, while I do not expect the Switch version to come close to the PS4 version I fully expect it to be a big seller. Another interesting game will be Disgaea 1 Complete that will release day and day between NSW and PS4.

Well done OP.

Yeah, Switch-versions do often not bad. What is more interesting: the split between PS4 and Xbox seems more even, it has smaller differences with different games. But with Switch it wildly fluctuates. Some games like South Park or FIFA have a really small market share, others like Sonic, Resident Evil, Attack on Titan or Disgaea have a real big market share. This clearly shows that the userbase of PS4 and XBox is pretty similar, while the Switch has a very different userbase.

 

DonFerrari said:
Thought there had been an update on the OP.
But still the greatest point this show is that SW sales aren't that correlated with HW sales to people that still believe in constant attach ratios.

Yes, this is something I again and again say. Sure, a bigger install base usually leads to bigger sales. But it is far from a linear connection, often even a negligable difference. A fan of Monster Hunter gets Monster Hunter, regardless of the platform. The only reason for smaller sales on smaller install bases might be a reluctance to get said platform for just one game.

A few games though grow more with the install base. Seemingly few buy a Nintendo platform for Mario Kart, but many buy Mario Kart if they own a Nintendo platform. So this is a game that grows with the userbase. But even for Mario Kart it is far from linear, and I think there are very few games like that.

 

DonFerrari said:
Mnementh said:

I also want to show another interesting development in sales. The game BattleChasers: Nightwar (a pretty classic turn-based RPG) was released as a late port on Switch and shows there incredible sales strength. I think THQ Nordic is kinda pleased with these sales. In three weeks the Switch version already overtook the XBox One version and if the strong sales continue will not take long to catch the PS4 version.

Unless this very steep curve for the NS version decelerate soon it will have more than 50% of the sales very soon.

Yeah, this sales curve is kinda strange. Most of it is done in the US, in europe Battlechasers sells on Switch around the same as the PS4-version and has the same dropoff. In the US the sales are really big and more baffling stay nearly constant. I don't know the reason, maybe ads?

 

leo-j said:
40 percent of games sold on PS4 are digital, so add a nice 35-40 percent to it's software numbers to make this more accurate please.

Oh no. This demand is flawed on so many levels. First of all, it ignores digital sales on other platform, as if Playstation is the only platform with digital sales. Secondly this changes over time, a recent post in a thread here showed, that these numbers are increasing over time. Third, the ratio often includes digital only titles, which inflates the ratio that in result cannot be applied to games that release both physical and digital. Fourth, the digital ratio also fluctuates strongly between different titles. So do Monster Hunter World and Octopath Traveler have a higher digital ratio, because they were initially undershipped.

So in conclusion: if you have data that shows digital sales for the games for ALL platforms (not include PS4-sales digital, but has Xbox only physical or so), then we can make graphs based on that data. As long I can only map data which we have. You have to apply your usual consideration regarding VGC-estimates of physical sales.



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Mnementh said:
Mbolibombo said:
Cool charts. I honestly though Switch versions of a few games would sell lesser than what these show. Considering many of them released at a later date than the initial launch and a lot smaller user base. PS4 as expected sells the most of almost everything which is not very surprising considering how many users they have.

Of the day and day releases Switch seems to do pretty ok after all. If we consider revenue for many of these late ports, I am sure that publishers in many instances are still pretty pleased with sales for some of the late ports. Fighterz is going to be interesting, while I do not expect the Switch version to come close to the PS4 version I fully expect it to be a big seller. Another interesting game will be Disgaea 1 Complete that will release day and day between NSW and PS4.

Well done OP.

Yeah, Switch-versions do often not bad. What is more interesting: the split between PS4 and Xbox seems more even, it has smaller differences with different games. But with Switch it wildly fluctuates. Some games like South Park or FIFA have a really small market share, others like Sonic, Resident Evil, Attack on Titan or Disgaea have a real big market share. This clearly shows that the userbase of PS4 and XBox is pretty similar, while the Switch has a very different userbase.

 

DonFerrari said:
Thought there had been an update on the OP.
But still the greatest point this show is that SW sales aren't that correlated with HW sales to people that still believe in constant attach ratios.

Yes, this is something I again and again say. Sure, a bigger install base usually leads to bigger sales. But it is far from a linear connection, often even a negligable difference. A fan of Monster Hunter gets Monster Hunter, regardless of the platform. The only reason for smaller sales on smaller install bases might be a reluctance to get said platform for just one game.

A few games though grow more with the install base. Seemingly few buy a Nintendo platform for Mario Kart, but many buy Mario Kart if they own a Nintendo platform. So this is a game that grows with the userbase. But even for Mario Kart it is far from linear, and I think there are very few games like that.

 

DonFerrari said:

Unless this very steep curve for the NS version decelerate soon it will have more than 50% of the sales very soon.

Yeah, this sales curve is kinda strange. Most of it is done in the US, in europe Battlechasers sells on Switch around the same as the PS4-version and has the same dropoff. In the US the sales are really big and more baffling stay nearly constant. I don't know the reason, maybe ads?

 

leo-j said:
40 percent of games sold on PS4 are digital, so add a nice 35-40 percent to it's software numbers to make this more accurate please.

Oh no. This demand is flawed on so many levels. First of all, it ignores digital sales on other platform, as if Playstation is the only platform with digital sales. Secondly this changes over time, a recent post in a thread here showed, that these numbers are increasing over time. Third, the ratio often includes digital only titles, which inflates the ratio that in result cannot be applied to games that release both physical and digital. Fourth, the digital ratio also fluctuates strongly between different titles. So do Monster Hunter World and Octopath Traveler have a higher digital ratio, because they were initially undershipped.

So in conclusion: if you have data that shows digital sales for the games for ALL platforms (not include PS4-sales digital, but has Xbox only physical or so), then we can make graphs based on that data. As long I can only map data which we have. You have to apply your usual consideration regarding VGC-estimates of physical sales.

Yes it's clear to see that the 3 consoles have different userbases. While PS4 and X1 are more similar (but still JRPGs and some other genres are much more strong in PS4). And certainly Switch have a very different taste, if it didn't had they wouldn't buy Switch costing similar and being weaker at the end of the gen for the others. Which is good, If Swtich doing strong generates interest from devs to make games from genres that are strong on it but weak on the HDduo that means more variety.

When someone say it would be impossible for let's Mario Kart WiiU to outsell TLOUR because of userbase of course I have to agree, MK would need almost 100% attach ratio to get a shot at outselling TLOUR. But for me anything that had less than 20% of attach ratio on it's userbase can't really be said that would have sold a lot more if the userbase was a lot larger.

And not sure if MK will keep this same history (it wasn't like that before Wii), but that is something true and fantastic of dedication to HW and SW together that only Mario would have before (even Zelda was very far from it before BotW).

Also on people that buy a platform because of a game we know those are the very very few examples. Real system sellers are very rare (Like FF VII even if not selling like MK Wii, it basically ignited PS1) even if the game is very much liked. So as you mentioned, for MK WiiU let's say, if WiiU had 50M systems sold certainly MK would have sold a lot more (but certainly not linear, because that would make an obnoxous 40M MK sold right?)

Yep that curve is crazy, I have no idea for the reason, but let's say for how long it will keep.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

Switch wasn't doing badly in comparison to other platforms judging by those.



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LGBTDBZBBQ said:
Switch wasn't doing badly in comparison to other platforms judging by those.

For the games it received and considering install base, they have done very well.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

leo-j said:
40 percent of games sold on PS4 are digital, so add a nice 35-40 percent to it's software numbers to make this more accurate please.

The same thing would have to be done for Switch and Xbox One. But we don't have any hard numbers that I've heard about their digital attach ratio.



Medisti said:
leo-j said:
40 percent of games sold on PS4 are digital, so add a nice 35-40 percent to it's software numbers to make this more accurate please.

The same thing would have to be done for Switch and Xbox One. But we don't have any hard numbers that I've heard about their digital attach ratio.

From the other thread asking about digital sales we have Xbox probably a little higher and Switch about 25%



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

A sea of blue. With digital sales it would be even more biased towards the gen 8 machines.



Pretty pointless comparison considering how late most of these Switch ports were. Not to mention Vgchartz is unreliable to begin with. And of course, no digital sales.

Switch also has a much smaller userbase because it's still a young console while the Xbox One and PS4 have been on the market for much longer and have a larger userbase because of that.

Crash Bandicoot N'Sane Trilogy on Switch & Xbox One will be a great comparison. Or that new Monster Boy game.



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